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Jihad
Jihad (جهاد) is a tenet of Islam and a religious duty to strive in the way of God. There are two general ways to do this, the Greater Jihad and the Lesser Jihad. The Greater Jihad is an introspective journey to conquer your internal demons and follow the Divine Laws more closely than previously; this kind of jihad should be entirely peaceful. The Lesser Jihad refers to conflicts and confrontations between Muslims and Non-Muslims or other Muslims, which often erupt in war, but can also be performed through non-violent protests, debate, and advocacy.
242 Questions
What common cause did the mujahideen solidarity freedon fighters share?
Defense of their nations against the Soviets
First, it is worth distinguishing the US government from the acts of independent American citizens. The US government has not supported the IRA in any serious capacity, but Irish Americans have. Additionally, the United States has listed the RIRA (the militant successor to the Provisional IRA in 1997) as a terrorist organization and has blacklisted them. Irish Americans supported the IRA for sectarian reasons, namely to free Ireland from British rule.
In the case of Hamas and Hezbollah, there are far fewer Americans of Arab descent to support these organizations, but there is such support. This has ended up in a number of court cases concerning the money-trails that lead to these organizations, most notably the Holy Land Foundation Trials. The reason that the United States government goes after supporters of Hamas and Hezbollah is that both organizations are directly hostile to the United States.
As a final note, Hamas and Hezbollah are not "pals" of the IRA. Not all paramilitary/terrorist groups have warm (or even extant relationships).
There are a number of inaccuracies with your question, which may help to explain why the Israelis did what they did.
1) Hamas is not a Neo-Nazi Party. -- Whatever horrible things can be said about their methods and their politics, their primary interest is political, i.e. the removal of a State, not ethnic cleansing. While it is likely that given the control of the entire former British Mandate of Palestine, mass pogroms against the Jewish inhabitants would ensue, Hamas would not try to further effectuate them. For them it is a question of political power, not racial purity.
2) Israel did not bequeath the West Bank to Hamas. -- Israel, at the Oslo Accords, set aside territory in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank to Fatah and the Palestinian Liberation Organization. These two organizations/terrorist groups were exclusive of Hamas intentionally by both sides. These two groups hybridized and formed the Palestinian Authority, which is still the government of the West Bank. The PA has been working very closely with Israel to improve the situation in the West Bank both for Palestinians and Israeli soldiers.
3) Israel's unilateral disengagement from Gaza was during the PA's control. -- Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon realized that it was economically unfeasible to maintain settlements in the Gaza Strip because it cost more to defend them and supply them than it the tax revenue and jobs that the region brought to Israel. After a series of failed negotiations, Sharon forcibly removed all Jewish settlement in the Gaza Strip, making the territory a contiguous zone completely controlled by the Palestinian Authority.
4) Israel had no control of the Palestinian Elections of 2006 or the Palestinian Civil War of 2006. -- In 2006, the Palestinians had one of the freest elections in the history of the Arab World and elected Hamas over Fatah as the rulers of the Palestinian Authority in a landslide. Realizing that Hamas would worsen the lives for Palestinians almost immediately, Fatah made moves to exclude them from actually taking control. Angered that they were denied the power that they won, Hamas launched a civil war against Fatah and were able to force them out of Gaza. They were unsuccessful in taking the West Bank. In both the elections and the Civil War, Israel played no part in Palestinian internal affairs.
Remnant of Question
On to what remains of your question. Israel cannot devote all of its efforts to removing Hamas from Gaza. It is an entrenched organization with a large percentage of people in its employ. It is not just a paramilitary organization, but it also has a political wing, a welfare wing, a police corps, an educational division, and healthcare division. It is a complete government with a very violent outlook. Israel attempts to toe the line between tolerating madness and combating insanity. For the moment, anyway, Gaza is not even the biggest threat to Israeli Security. Operation Cast Lead led to a severe reduction in Qassam Rocket attacks and so, Israel has needed to focus its attention on solving the Iran Crisis.
What are Hamas Fatah and Hezbollah?
All three of these groups are Jihadist terrorist organizations with a number of discernible characteristics. The most common and identifiable Muslim terrorist action is the suicide bomber who blows himself up to take out some enemies as well as himself. Muslim terrorist organizations tell their membership that the fight in which they are engaged is part of the holy Islamic struggle of Jihad and anyone who opposes them is not properly guided. Therefore, Muslim terrorist organizations will identify what sect of Islam they belong to and whether or not they oppose the other sects. Most Muslim terrorists wish to inspire fear in their enemies and therefore primarily attack civilians, considering them part of the enemy. Some "moderate" non-associated clerics have defended these activities claiming that the civilians represent part of the group that "is opposed to Islam". Since Muslim terrorists exist in countries with a weak internal support structure, in many cases such as with Hezbollah, Hamas, or Fatah, they will use their own funds to build schools, parks, hospitals, and other social services in the communities they occupy. It provides goodwill with the local inhabitants and allows them to more effectively spread whatever messages they may wish to say. Finally, Muslim terrorist organizations like Hezbollah, Hamas, and Fatah have all actively engaged in elections (Hezbollah in Lebanon, Hamas and Fatah in Palestine) with their own political parties. If the governments formed after these elections were not desirable to these parties, they engaged in military actions to force the national government to capitulate to their desires. In the case of Hezbollah this created a violent stand-off in Beirut and in the case of Hamas and Fatah, this prompted a Palestinian Civil War in Gaza and the West Bank.
No. Hamas is paramilitary, terrorist, welfare, and political organization. (It has several distinct wings.)
While the Palestinian Authority has de jure authority over both the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, Hamas exerts de facto control in the Gaza Strip. This has led some Egyptian generals to call the Gaza Strip "Hamas-stan" since Hamas rules a strip of territory.
Is Hamas a terrorist organization?
Yes. According to United States, European Union, Israel, and numerous impartial organizations, Hamas is a terrorist organization. There are others who critique that Hamas is more complex than just a terrorist organization.
What makes it less clear is that Hamas has social and political wings. These wings promote the same ideology of the organization but its members do not necessarily commit the violent actions that the militant wing does. However, those members condone and provide support to the militants.
How do you view Hamas in the Palestinian Territories?
Hamas was originally created as a resistance front against Israeli occupation to the intentionally recognized Palestinian territories.
I am personally against Hamas policy of retaliation and I prefer to get political problems solved peacefully with international community support. However, it is very difficult to give a fair view on Hamas unless you get answers to:
- if you are in place of Hamas, how do you think you can get your rights in your lands and homes while the occupier denies these rights and the international community doesn't care?.
- How many Israelis were killed by Hamas rockets? to my information: None
- How many Palestinians were killed and injured by Israeli attacks on Gaza? to my information: Thousands.
- How many Palestinians were killed by the settlers before starting firing Hamas rockets; since the British occupation of Palestine before Israel State recognition in 1948 and through 1967 war and after Oslo 1991 peace agreement; and without single world condemnation?
- What do you expect from people got driven away from their homes and lands and other people, from all over the world, were brought as settlers to replace them?
- Why Gaza, of the highest population density in the world, is fully isolated by the Israelis?
- Is resistance against occupiers considered terrorism?
Hamas is a Palestinian Sunni Islamic or Islamist political party that governs the Gaza Strip and the largest and most influential Palestinian militant movement along with the more moderate Fatah party and has a military wing called the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades. Hamas is viewed by most Western analysts as an obstacle to the Arab-Israeli peace process and the goal of a two-state solution. As a result, Western nations, including the United States, have tried to embolden the Fatah-led Palestinian Authority while isolating Hamas, which has historically kept strong ties to Iran.
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Hamas was founded by Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, a Palestinian spiritual leader who became an activist in the local branch of the Muslim Brotherhood after dedicating his early life to Islamic scholarship in Cairo. Beginning in the late 1960s, Yassin preached and performed charitable work in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, both of which were seized by Israeli forces following the 1967 Six-Day War. In 1973, he established al-Mujamma' al-Islami (the Islamic Center) to coordinate the Brotherhood's political activities in Gaza.
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Hamas' primary base of popular support is in the Gaza Strip, where it has maintained de facto control since its 2006, when it surprised many observers by winning the majority of seats in the Palestinian parliament. Hamas ousted the remnants of Fatah from Gaza by force in early 2007, and the new Hamas-led government was summarily dismissed by PA president and Fatah chief Mahmoud Abbas. The result of the bloodshed was a de facto geographic division of Palestinian-held territory, with Hamas holding sway in Gaza and Fatah maintaining the internationally recognized Palestinian Authority government in the West Bank town of Ramallah.
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Hamas' control over the area was established after the Hamas party won the Palestinian legislative elections in January 2006,[4] and ousted Fatah officials during the Battle of Gaza in 2007.[5] Fatah, Hamas' political and military rival, controls the West Bank.[6] Both regimes - the Palestinian National Authority and the Hamas administration - regard themselves as the sole legitimate Palestinian government.
No. Islamabad is the capital of Pakistan. Hamas is a Terrorist/Paramilitary organization which governs the Gaza Strip of Palestine.
What common goal was shared by the mujahideen solidarity and freedom fighters?
Both the Mujahideen Solidarity and freedom fighters sought to defend their nations against the Soviet Union.
Why is jihad important to muslims?
All the Muslims have never waged the so called Holy War - Jehaad. This is untrue.
The issue of the Jehaad has been unnecessarily blown up to blame the Muslim world. To support their claim, they have read some verses of the Qur'an and proclaimed that Jehaad has been mentioned in the Qur'an
It has been mentioned in the Qur'an - there is no doubt about it but every single verse of the Qur'an has 7, 70, 700 meanings, as Imaam Ja'far as-Saadiq (as) has said. Depending on the mere translation of the Qur'an is incorrect and too shallow to explain the essence of the Qur'an
Recently, in India, the leading Muslim scholars have regarded all such anti-human activities under the banner of Islaam and Jehaad as unlawful and anti-islaamic.
According to the US who funds Hamas?
All the Above According to the US State Department, the group is funded by Iran, Palestinian expatriates, and private benefactors in Saudi Arabia and other Arab states.
